Fanshanjiaozi
01 · Historical Records
By the end of the Qing dynasty, Fanshanjiaozi was widely used at weddings, birthday celebrations and all kinds of other auspicious occasions, and gradually took on the dance form it has today.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
In the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, Fanshanjiaozi was extremely popular in Pingchang. Its beating techniques include more than forty movements, basically not departing from four ways of handling: striking, scraping, flipping and turning. Most of the movements bear vivid figurative names, such as "the white heron spreads its wings", "wind blows the willows", "the soft-shelled turtle dries its shell", "the frog dries its belly", "flowers bloom on the bare ground" and "horse galloping, bow shooting", and so on. In performance, the jiaozi performer swings the two jiaozi in time with the beat so that they strike each other and give out sound, and from time to time lengthens or shortens the cords tied to them, at one moment flinging the jiaozi over the head and at another whirling them around the waist and legs, so as to strike the jiaozi against different parts of the body and display a variety of graceful dance poses and formations. The movements of the whole performance are expansive and flexible, the style vigorous and rough, and the atmosphere cheerful and extraordinarily lively. Fanshanjiaozi is a highly distinctive performance form among the dances of the Han nationality; to some extent it reflects the social life and cultural customs of the Ba people, and it is important reference material for research into Ba culture and the history of Chinese dance.
The four techniques of striking, brushing, flipping and turning
The forty-odd actions all come down to four techniques - striking, brushing, flipping and turning - as the dancer clashes the two cymbals in time.
The named movement images
Most movements carry image names - the egret spreading wings, willow in the wind, the turtle sunning its shell, the frog its belly, the ground lotus and the mounted archer.
Long-cord and short-cord cymbals
Depending on cord length the dance divides into long-cord and short-cord types; the dancer pays out and reels in the cord, now flinging the cymbals overhead, now whirling them round the waist.
From shaman's instrument to wedding entertainment
The cymbals began as a shaman's instrument played to placate spirits in sickness; by the late Qing they had moved into weddings and birthday celebrations in their present dance form.
The Tan and Wu schools, ground and platform forms
After mastering the Tan school, Wu Huade founded the Wu school and enriched both the ground and high-platform forms with expansive, robust movement.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Fanshanjiaozi is a men's dance in which the small bronze cymbals called "jiaozi" are waved and struck, and it is transmitted mainly around Pingchang County, Sichuan Province. The jiaozi was originally a ritual implement used by the Pingchang shamans colloquially called "duangong"; when local residents met with calamity or illness, they would invite a shaman to strike the jiaozi, using a variety of humorous or graceful movements to please the ghosts and spirits so that they would no longer do harm. According to the length of the cords, Fanshanjiaozi is divided into two types, "long-cord jiaozi" and "short-cord jiaozi".
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
At present Fanshanjiaozi survives poorly and has few inheritors; rescuing and protecting it has become an urgent task. Wu Huade (as recorded in the official file of the associated inheritor): Male, Han ethnicity, born in April 1967, native of Pingchang County, Sichuan Province. After inheriting the basic techniques of the Tan school, he innovated boldly and founded the Wu school of Fanshanjiaozi, enriching the content of "flat-ground jiaozi" and "high-platform jiaozi". In performance his movements are expansive and flexible, vigorous and rough, displaying a variety of graceful dance poses and formations and creating a lively, bustling and joyful atmosphere on the spot. He collects, organizes and transmits materials related to the Fanshanjiaozi dance, providing a great deal of help to professional literary and art workers in the province, the city and the county. Representative inheritor of Fanshanjiaozi, a national-level intangible cultural heritage project in the third national-level batch. He has taken part many times in cultural and artistic performance showcases and won awards; the folk dance Fanshanjiaozi as performed by him in 1988 was included in the "Sichuan Volume" of the Collected Chinese Folk Dances.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Wu Huade 03-0936
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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